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We can DOUBLE market share

Liverpool now has around an 8% share of Britain’s container shipping market but Mr Whitworth wants to more than double that.

Mr Whitworth said: “L2 was always about taking back market share that had been lost from Liverpool historically due to ship sizes. Large ships cannot come in through our lock system, they’re physically just too big.

“Before ship sizes were a constraint Liverpool had approximately 18-20% market share. Our business case for L2 was always predicated on getting back to that position, on taking back market share from our natural hinterland.

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“If you look today, Felixstowe and Southampton are serving a hinterland that we would consider to be unnatural, ie the north of England. Over half the containers coming to the UK end up closer to Liverpool than Felixstowe or Southampton.

“The difficulty is that gradually over the last 30 years or more , the market and its infrastructure has migrated south because the vessels can only be accommodated down there. For that reason we recognise that convincing the lines and the whole supply chains to change might not be just a slam dunk conversation.

“So we’re engaging with the lines, and our message is ‘This isn’t more of the same, this is an alternative route into the UK’.

“It’s not better than the south, it’s an alternative route.”

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Close to two deals

Mr Whitworth says talks are well advanced with shipping lines.

“I can genuinely tell you we have had really positive engagement with both the end users and the shipping lines and we are actively working on evaluating two services as we speak right now. “There are potentially more but we are genuinely assessing two services that we are very confident about doing business with in the course of coming months. We want to make sure that our service delivers the capability those shipping lines need.

“It was never a case of ‘on the first of this month we’ll open up and there’ll be a large vessel there, we’re trading’.”

More big cranes

A sinkhole appeared at the Port of Liverpool

The five giant red cranes are already landmarks on the Mersey. Each one is almost as tall as the Royal Liver Building.

Peel eventually hopes to have eight of those cranes – and Mr Whitworth hopes they’ll be here sooner rather than later.

He said: “We genuinely believe as things stand right now we are likely to pull forward the investment for that second batch of cranes.

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Cutting costs

One big selling point Liverpool2 has is that shipping firms could save money by bringing containers here.

Mr Whitworth said: “It’s factually the case that in many cases it’s more expensive to bring a container up from either Felixstowe or Southampton to the north of England than it is to move that container from Asia to Southampton or Felixstowe.

“In other words the sea leg to the UK is actually cheaper than the land leg from the point of entry to its end destination.

“In reality that’s one of our principal advantages. Why is that more expensive? Because we aren’t moving containers across land.”

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Liverpool2

More than just containers

Liverpool can offer more than just container handling services. If more ships come in, then it could create more jobs elsewhere on the port estate or nearby

He said: “We’ve got several other points on the journey where we create value. So the container comes into Liverpool, of course it can be immediately transhipped onto an HGV to Manchester or wherever, but in a lot of cases those container come into the port ad various other aspects kick in.

“So it could remain in the port or be unloaded within the port, warehoused in the port, unpacked in the port... they’re the kind of services we deliver here, and that isn’t the same at other ports around the UK.”

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“Let’s assume for one second that trade with Europe gets more difficult – though I think we’re a little more optimistic about that than most.

“Is it helpful? Of course it’s not. But we’re not necessarily relying on any growth whatsoever. We’ll probably have to work harder to take more than we otherwise would have done.

“But in reverse what else happens? Well perhaps Transatlantic trade becomes more important. Show me a port better placed in the UK than Liverpool to serve that market?

“Trade with perhaps India becomes more important perhaps. Trade with Africa becomes more important. Because of the diversity of our business, the variety of different revenue streams and touchpoints, we’re not reliant one any one particular market or commodity or geography.”